Lost Cause
by Glamagirl
Summary: Stephanie is jealous after seeing the infamous picture of Chris kissing Kelly Kelly. One shot.


**Disclaimer: I do not own anyone in this story. The characters belong to themselves and to each other… or so rumor has it.**

**A/N This is a little fluff I came up with during a boring meeting at the office… I decided to post it as my own B-Day present, even when it's still a few days away! Hope you enjoy :-)**

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

_It can't be true…_

She could scarcely believe what she was seeing. For a long moment where she believed herself to be in shock, she could only remain sitting stiffly with her mouth hanging open and her blue eyes glued to the monitor of her laptop.

_It can't be true_. She tried to put her mind at ease by repeating that to herself, but the rational part of her brain that was still working, knew that there was no way her eyes could be deceiving her. This was no longer a rumor, but pure fact. She leaned forward, studying the disturbing image more closely.

The man in the picture was clearly him; there was no possible way she could mistake him for somebody else, and although the woman's face was hidden beneath one ugly cap she could also recognize her just fine.

"You have to be fucking kidding me" she let the words roll out of her mouth in a whisper. She was alone in her hotel room, so there was nobody to hear her anyway. She gasped, blinked a couple of times and still the image didn't disappear, or change itself into something less sickening.

_It can't be true… It just can't!_

But yet it was. Stephanie ran a hand through her long hair, her horrified eyes still focused on the screen. Her mind was all messed up and in turmoil; emotions ranging from denial, anger and dull acceptance fought their way to be on top. It was like a grieving cycle, and if the situation wasn't so tragic she would have laugh about the absurdity of it all.

Tragic… Was it really that tragic? She considered for a moment and made her conclusion. It wasn't only tragic, it was fucking chaotic! Destiny had messed up with the balance of the universe and something horribly wrong could result out of it.

They weren't supposed to happen. Not in this lifetime, not while she lived.

"But what am I to do?" As much as she hated it the candid picture proved what her heart wouldn't accept. They did happen, and as far as she knew they were still _happening_.

It wasn't supposed to be this way.

With a grunt of frustration that escaped from the deepest part of her being, Stephanie slammed the laptop shut, not bothering to turn it off and caring even less if the damned thing could break with the forceful impact.

Hit by a wave of determination that she would probably regret later on, she sprung out of the bed and reached for the hotel phone that was on the nightstand. She was going to find out for herself what was really going on. Oh yes, she was going to find out before the night ended.

~*~*~*~*

Back in the sanctuary of her hotel room she had been determined to carry on with this, but now that she was standing right in front of his door she wasn't so sure anymore.

_What if he's with her?_

Her heart clenched at the thought of the two of them together in that room. Would he be so careless as to do that? The pictures circling around the web of them dancing and kissing came to mind and she shuddered. Yes, he was being careless.

Careless was a thing he had never been with her, but that was a long time ago and the man that let himself be photographed in a compromising situation with a woman that wasn't his wife was not the same man she had once loved.

Once…

She lifted her hand to knock, but drew it back before it even touched the hard wood. She paced through the long deserted corridor some more, her arms folded against her chest.

_What would I do if I knock and she's the one who answers? Even if she's not in there what would I say to him?_

And there was also the fact that she had no right to meddle in his affairs, she had lost what little right she had a long time ago when she let him go.

But she cared about him, how could she not care? She had loved him once, and through nights like this he had held her in his arms, loving her too. That in this cruel present she did not have his love could not stop her from caring.

She stopped her pacing and took a deep breath. _Just knock and improvise, it's not that hard_. But she was not good at improvising, that had been him.

She re-assumed the pacing. She shouldn't care, she really shouldn't. But she did nonetheless, she cared greatly. And it bothered her to no end that after she had renounced his love for the sake of his family some skank came along and took him away. Sure, she no longer loved him, but when she did, she had loved him with all the power of her being.

There had been a dark long time when her soul had not been satisfied with the fact of not having him with her, but that was no more and she had since then moved on with her own life. Back then, when he had left the company his absence had been unbearable at first, until she got use to it and learned to live with it… without him. Then he came back a happy man, and she had her own family to care to. They were simply not the same beings that had loved each other with a passion hard to control, they had become strangers.

How it had saddened her. It still did. How could it be that love was too short but forgetting so long…

She ran her hand through her hair and bit hard on her lower lip, realization hitting her hard as a blow to the gut. _What am I doing?_

She stopped dead in her tracks. She couldn't do it, this could unleash some feelings that would be better off buried somewhere deep in her subconscious. She should go back to her own room and think of her daughters; they were the only ones that should matter to her. Let him screw the entire women's locker room if he wanted to, it was not of her concern.

She turned away from his door and started to make her way back to her room before someone would see her roaming through the corridors. But that night she found out that destiny was indeed a bitch, she had not given two steps away from his door when none other than Chris Irvine appeared right in front of her. She wasn't quite sure where he had come from.

He gazed at her through half closed eyes and she just remained frozen where she stood. She had been caught. For a moment she thought he was going to keep walking and pretend he hadn't ever see her, but when passed her by he turned, query in his eyes.

"Hey" She said stupidly and as soon as the word left her mouth she wanted to take it back.

"Hey yourself" He responded with half a smirk, his blue eyes sparkling as he looked at her.

Now she remembered how easy it was to get lost in the depths of those eyes…

He lifted his eyebrows, never taking his eyes away from hers as he waited for her to give a good, coherent explanation of why she was stalking his room.

She let out a nervous chuckle and shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. She felt awkward. "Um… Can we talk?"

He tilted his head a little as if considering. "Sure" he turned away from her and walked towards his room. He opened the door and held it open so that she could enter.

She stood there, watching him watching her. He was wearing jeans and one of those band shirts he clearly still, liked so much. It was a refreshing sight. As of lately, she only got the chance to see him in suits and obviously, his ring attire, which was on her humble opinion much better now than the thighs we wore back in _their_ days. But the one she was used on seeing lately was Jericho; the one standing in front of her was simply Chris. Her Chris? Not anymore.

"Do you want to talk right here or do you want to go inside?"

Stephanie smiled slightly at him, but it felt as a grimace. She went in.

His room was no different from hers, and as he turned on the lights somewhere behind her she noted that there was no sign of a woman staying here with him. But that didn't mean anything at all. She took the liberty of sitting at the edge of the bed.

"So shoot" He said leaning against the closed door as she turned to look at him. He didn't seem pleased to have her invading the privacy of his room.

She shrugged, not sure if she should just ask him. By right she should be back at her room and she just didn't know how to proceed by now. "How are Ash and the girls?" Lame but it was the only thing that sprung to her mind.

At the mention of his kids his face softened with a smile. "The girls are creating havoc all over the place, and Ash is pretty much the same, wild and talkative"

"Just like their father"

He smiled, his eyes still on her. "What about yours?"

"They are just beautiful" She replied with a smile of her own.

He lifted his eyebrows at her. "Just like their mother" His smile had faded a little, but it was still there and for some unknown reason she felt her face blushing at his words.

She held his gaze. There had been a time when she could know what he was thinking by just looking into those hypnotic eyes of his. Back then they wouldn't need words to communicate with each other, a single touch could be enough to demonstrate their love, and with just one look they could talk poems if they wanted to. But those days were gone, and she could no longer decipher his eyes.

"But you didn't came here to talk about my kids, or yours"

"I didn't" She confessed. Could be that she no longer knew him, but it seemed like he still knew her. There would be no point of circling on the matter. "Are you going out with Kelly Kelly?" She refused calling the slutty blonde by her given name, that girl was no friend of hers and calling her by her given name would be like admitting she was relevant.

He chuckled. "Blunt as always" he scratched his chin, considering his words carefully. "I don't see how that concerns you"

"I'll switch her to Smackdown at the next draft" She said with a shrug. Hell, she'll even fire her if necessary. The girl, yes, girl! Was not even pretty, a bit comely maybe but not by much. She could find a better replacement at the mall who could at least know her way in the ring.

Chris walked toward her, something resembling a bemused expression on his face. When he got to her, he bend a little so he could look into her eyes. "Are you jealous?"

Stephanie snickered. "Please!" She rolled her eyes a little too overdramatically. "As if…" she stood from the bed, deciding that this conversation was not going to lead anywhere. It had been a stupid mistake to come here in the first place.

She mumbled something of the sort to him, but in her haste to leave she could barely remember what she said or if he even heard her.

When she was reaching the door he grabbed her by the arm and made her turn around, making her face him. His semblance was somber as he looked down on her and she tried in vain to sneak out of his hold.

"Why did you come here Steph?" his tone was calm and even, she had never liked that tone.

She could only look into his eyes, those eyes that she had loved so much. She opened her mouth to speak her answer but she did not have any. "I don't know" she confessed in defeat. "Maybe because I just care about you, I… I don't want to see you hurt" She sighed before she could go on with her ramble. She had come to him because she had once loved him, maybe she still did.

This time he was the one who snickered. "That's funny, I mean, considering our past"

Stephanie actually flinched at that. She had indeed hurt him, and hurting him was like hurting herself. It had been the most difficult decision she had ever made in her life. "I had to do what was best for both of us. You had a wife…"

Chris tightened his grip on her. "You knew damn well that I would have leave her in a heartbeat just for you, it was you who wouldn't leave Paul"

"I wasn't going to take you away from your son" Her voice cracked a bit, just the sightless. "It wasn't about Paul, it had never been about him"

She had never loved Paul as she had loved him.

He let go of her arm with a bitter chuckle. "Whatever, I'm not going to fight for a lost cause. Go back to your husband and let me live my life as I please"

"I don't have a husband" She said as a matter of fact. They had split up about a little more than a year ago, right before she found out she was pregnant again.

He turned to her, locking his eyes with hers. She still knew him a bit, and she could tell that he was trying to find the truth in her eyes.

"How long?" He asked in his somber tone, but his eyes had a certain glint that she couldn't quite place, hope? Maybe it was her own hope that reflected into his eyes.

"A year, maybe a bit more" she replied to him.

He let his body fall in a sitting position at the corner of the bed, a blank expression on his face. "You know what? This is all messed up, when did we become so messed up?"

She walked up to him and sat at his side, letting her hand find his to take it in. With her thumb she caressed his skin, drawing clumsy circles along her way. It felt good to touch him if only this lightly, it felt right.

"Right from the beginning" She said with a sigh. Right from the moment she first saw him she knew she was doomed. Love at first sight? If such thing existed she would call it that.

He entwined his finger with hers, and for a peaceful moment the two of them remained in silence, lost in memories of long ago that wanted to resurface.

She knew right there the truth that she had been denying to herself for so long. She loved him, she will love him till the day she died and then in eternity she will keep on loving him.

"Jessica and I divorced about six months ago" His voice was lost in the silence of the room and it took her a moment to register its meaning.

Could it be that there was still hope for the two of them?

She turned to him to find the eyes that she loved looking right into hers. They transmitted a promise right to her soul, a promise of love and eternity.

They didn't need words, but she wanted to say it so that her mind could believe what was going on.

"I still love you" Stephanie whispered to him.

He leaned into her and kissed her, his lips warm and welcoming, just like she remembered. He didn't linger that long, just a soft probing kiss to begin with.

"I love you too" He went back to kiss her, but she backed away a little.

"What about Kelly Kelly?" She asked with a silly grin on her face due to his latest confession.

He slid a hand to the back of her head to pull her to his lips; he kissed her once more and then mumbled against her lips. "Kelly who?"

~*FIN*~


End file.
